Edmonton Expo 2017: My First Expo Weekend

While Game-Refraction.com has had the opportunity to cover many various expos over the years, I myself have not had a chance to step out from behind the keyboard and truly experience the whole amazement that an expo can be.

This past weekend, that all changed when I attended the Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo 2017….and I can say that it was truly a life changing experience.

The Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo is a weekend dedicated to gathering nerds of every type – comic books, film, television, gaming, animation and many others – and allowing them to celebrate what is awesome and geeky in a positive, upbeat environment

I am quite a timid person and so just having the opportunity to be a representative of the press at Edmonton Expo 2017 was a huge confidence booster. I am a person who personally loves action and random placement photography, and thus my main task of taking stills during interviews and trying to catch some of the amazing cosplay costumes in attendance was a perfect fit for me. I don’t know if it was because I was feeling overwhelmed by the crowds or if I just had some star struck moments, but it took a lot of me to come out of my comfort zone and interact with many of the attendees.

Getting to witness live interviews with many of the media guest stars, including Anna Silk, Adam Fergusand David Hayden-Joneswas interesting because you got to have a one on one conversation with them and you got to see that they are just like the rest of us with their down to earth geeky personalities, and that they are just as excited about the shows that they are on as the rest of us.

And then there was the team at the Hyper-X booth, along with London Drugs and Nintendo! Nintendo had Nintendo Switches available for purchase — and if you are any kind of real gamer you know how rare those are to find. Even got to check out their latest game Arms, which really gave me the feel of the Roc’m Soc’m games from my youth.

If there was one booth that always was a buzz, it was at Hyper-X. So many neat gaming gears to check out (including an exclusive headset that I really want), and not only could you stand there and drool over the products….. but on both days they had ticket draws for attendees to walk away with some of them for free!! There was nothing more energetic about a huge crowd of gaming geeks huddled together like cattle hoping to hear their lucky number get called. Unfortunately I walked away empty handed, but I for sure loved the experience. Luckily though, Game-Refraction.com got an exclusive interview with the top dogs at Hyper-X and so I wasn’t too bummed out when I got to have a more one on one introduction to the products.

In Artist Alley, there were so many different artists available to browse – some of the talent these people have was amazing. I wish I had more money, I wanted to take home so many prints and canvas painting.

While many booths stood out to me and took the opportunity to have a chat, there were two that really left an impression.

First was one that housing two groups – Women in Comics and Sequential Tart. Women in Comics is a localized gathering of women in the comics world and just a launch point to create connections within the industry. Sequential Tart is a website about the comic industry that is published by a group of geeky women. It’s also a publication dedicated to providing exclusive interviews, in depth articles and news; while working towards raising the awareness of women’s influence in the comics industry and other realms.

The women at this booth were very approachable and passionate and took a real interest in what I do in the geek/nerd world and were interested to further network to expand the exposure of women in the industry. They were also selling live sketches to raise funds for supporting women in need.

The other booth that was right up my interest level was the TheWayGaming lounge. It was basically several really comfortable couches, a bunch of gaming screens and various consoles set up with specific games (Smash Bros, Overcooked, NHL, Beach Ball Battle) and an open invite to game. You don’t have to ask me twice, I could have stayed there all day…but duty called. It was exciting to be able to try out the PS4 controller as I primarily play games with an XBOX ONE controller or the Switch. They were really excited to learn about Game-Refraction.com and extended the invitation to attend many of their upcoming events and to remember them for booking any future gaming events.

Beyond soaking up all the type of geek media available — card games, cosplay gear, comics, etc… it was fascinating to check out all the cosplay throughout the weekend. So many talented people and groups! To see people put so much effort into dressing up as their favorite characters shows how deep the geek in all of us runs, especially those who embrace the character and can perform the stances and facials to go along with it. It has given me inspiration to perhaps even get into some cosplay for my next expo!!

We even got to meet a mini Logan who was both fierce and still cute and friendly.

Overall the Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo was both an overwhelming, and exhilarating experience. I don’t think one weekend is enough to really get in depth all there was available to experience, hence why there are three expos in a year. I look forward to going to more expos in the future and really try to bring out more of my inner geek.